Learn How NTMA is Crushing it for Their Manufacturers

Damon Pistulka  00:01

All right, everyone, welcome. It is Friday, and you know what that means. It is time for manufacturing. eCommerce, success. Oh, I am excited to talk with our guests today, because we are going to be learning how the NTMA is crushing it for their manufacturers. I am one of your co hosts, Damon Pistulka, that pretty gentleman right over there is Curt Anderson, and he’s going to take it away from here. Curt,

Daniel Ott  00:28

let’s do this. Hey, thanks, brother. Hey,

Curt Anderson  00:31

Damon, how’s your week going? You’re doing okay. You survive going great. You’re going great. Well, man, I hope, like, Dude, I hope you’re ready for this one, man, it’s like you’re gonna be wanting, you’re going to want to run through a wall when we’re done here. So Alright, are you guys sitting down? Game? Are you sitting down? Sitting down. Okay, alright, let’s do this. So hey, I’m going to give a big introduction to our dear friend, the one, the only Dan. Dan, happy Friday. How are you dude?

Daniel Ott  00:54

I’m doing great, guys. I’m doing great. Thanks for having me

Curt Anderson  00:57

absolutely. So alright, we’re here talking about the national tooling and machining Association NTMA. We have tons of uncover we might be talking about a little wedding that’s going on later today, but we’ll dive into that later, Dan, before we dive into your superpowers, all the amazing work that you guys are doing at NTMA. I have a little question for you. Yeah, Lay it on me. As a little guy growing up in Northeast Ohio. You’re through and through Ohio. Guy all the way right as a little guy growing up in Northeast Ohio, who was your hero? Who was your hero is a little guy growing up.

Daniel Ott  01:34

It depends on how little we want to go here, um, how little you want to go to well so to date, and this is going to seem very sentimental and kind of mushy, my dad has always been my hero. Nice. He is a guy who, you know, no matter what it would, no matter what it was, he always made it to every single one of my practices, every single one of my games, which is something that I hope to be able to give to my son growing up. I don’t plan on missing anything. But then, if you want to go a little deeper, like every Ohio guy that grew up in Northeast Ohio in the mid 90s that was a football fan, Eddie George, might as well be a god among men. To me, I like that, that that gleaming Scarlet and gray, you know, the great, you know, silver helmets that I watched and when I was like 10 or 11 years old, any of the big shoulder pads, the hiked up jersey, the half shirts it put, made me fall in love with the sport quite honestly, and I credit him and guys like Orlando pace and Terry Glenn, I really do credit them with my deep and abiding love for the game of football. Well,

Curt Anderson  02:50

I absolutely love that. What a great answer. So let’s, let’s talk about dad first. So what was dad’s name, please.

Daniel Ott  02:57

So my dad’s name is Larry Ott, born and raised in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, as are quite a few of my family members. I think we did a an ancestry.com search a couple years ago, and we can track my family lineage in this city back over 100 years. Oh, nice. They ought to give me, they ought to give me a plaque. Honestly. There should be a plaque dedicated to us honestly, because we’ve, we’ve built this, this community, over the course of a century. So, right,

Curt Anderson  03:24

alright. So Alright, we’ve got Larry at is hero caught all of your games and just, you know, what a great thing. Just give us a little bit more about Dad. What was, What? What? What did dad do? What was, let’s hear a little bit more about Larry. Yeah.

Daniel Ott  03:37

So my dad worked, actually worked for the city of Cuyahoga Falls, is where I’m from, for over 30 years, he worked for the parks department, or Parks Department. He worked on all the baseball fields. He did a lot of the public parks. He worked on, we have a water park here that he was in charge of making, you know, maintaining and make sure that all the kids were safe. So he he was, you know, the the classic, like, dad that never grew up, kind of a thing, you know, like he, my mom always makes the joke that he was one of her three kids. You know, me and my brother were always, you know, the kids of the family. But my dad wasn’t necessarily that far advanced as far as maturity goes. You know, we was always the, the one encouraging us to, like, put, you know, you know, get on our skateboards, on our bellies, and then, you know, take on down the hill and full on street luge. And, yeah, you know, he was, he was always a get dirty, kind of, you know, go out there and just cause trouble. Coming home from work, I swear to God, and I’ll never this would be something that’s like seared into my brain. My dad came home from work. There was one word that came out of his mouth every single time he came home from work and saw my brother and I, he’d walk in the house and go, dudes, and we all come running. It was just like the three of us were like the three amigos.

Curt Anderson  04:55

That is that. What a great story, man, what a great tribute to your. Dad just, you know, thank you for that. And then you know, so we’re putting Larry on the pedestal, and then, hell yeah, Damon, I can’t let Eddie George go by. So no no for the record, 1995 November, 1995 I was sitting in I had great seats. I was watching this little team called Ohio State. They were playing Illinois and my friend Eddie George. Reddlet off, how many yards? Stand you? 314, 314. Yards. I was in the stands for that game, and that sealed the the Heisman that year for Eddie George, so

Daniel Ott  05:31

that I can probably, and I won’t do it, I can probably recite for you one of the calls that Brett Musburger had when he broke it for I think it was over 60 yards in the third quarter. Fun fact. Curt, he didn’t play at all in the fourth. He didn’t play it all in the fourth, he rushed for 314, yards in three quarters of football. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  05:50

and they pulled and I’d say I was, I was there that day, and just what, and what, a fierce leader. And, you know, great Pro, just a great role model for the community, just a wonderful dude through and through and so just, I absolutely love that. So Alright, so let’s dive in here. So Dan is so Larry’s your hero. Big Buckeye fan Eddie, George, so and so forth. Let’s move forward. Would you do post college like I want to I’m dying here. You know, you’re such a fierce advocate for manufacturing. Why manufacturing? I know you’ve got a great story. Let’s hear. Well,

Daniel Ott  06:20

you know, that’s an interesting one. And I think my story is more common than that. I think it was, but, you know, I came out of high school, and immediately I play football in high school. And, you know, my family had always kind of instilled this line in me and said, you know, if you’re good at something, try to use that to move yourself forward. You know, if you’re good at football, maybe try to see if that can print, you know, put you into college. Maybe see if that’s the way that you can do that. And I, like a lot of other high school athletes, I decided to take, you know, take my talents to Adrian College in Michigan, and played football and absolutely loved every single second of it. And you know, both my parents, I was a first generation college student, and both my parents, working class people, did absolutely everything to try to offset the somewhat well, thanks to grants and financial aid, a small tuition but they tried to do as much as they could to offset whatever I was paying. And unfortunately, that ended up bumping them into an income bracket that, you know, the government thinks, Okay, you made more money. You don’t need as much from us, kind of a thing. So my tuition went from around $4,300 to go to a private school and live on campus to around 17,000 and, you know, being a division three athlete, you kind of have to weigh, you know, I’m not going to be going into the pros, quite honestly, like, that’s a pipe dream. I don’t know too many division three athletes that make it to the next level. And you kind of have to look at it pragmatically and think, you know, is the next three years of extending my football career worth incurring an additional I don’t even want to do that math, 50 plus $1,000 in student debt. So I did the economical thing. I moved home and went to the state school here and commuted. One thing I didn’t recognize early enough was paid enough attention to mental health. And, you know, I had never been presented with the abundance of of time and freedom that when you step away from football, you have all this time, you know, like, I don’t have to be at study tables, I don’t have to be at lifting, I don’t have to be here, I don’t have to be here. So you get used to that freedom, and it can become addicting, and then you don’t end up going to class, you don’t end up doing the things that you do to be successful. And ended up leaving the local university here at Kent State. And you know, kind of worked whatever jobs that I could get my hands on, whether that was delivering pizzas or working construction, it was just whatever fell into my lap. I had a family member reach out to me, and I was really struggling, and she happened to work for the local carbide tool manufacturer here at SGS. Well, it was SGS, at that point, reached out to me and said that her coding company, they’re one of their companies that puts titanium coatings on all their tools, needed someone to be a delivery driver and a sand blaster. So she gave me a call, and she was like, Maybe this will be a good start. See what you like it. See what happens. And I viewed it as more of a stepping stone. I was like, I’ll get this job. I’ll take it, I’ll, I’ll see where it goes, and then I’ll just, I’ll get myself back on track. 11 years later, yeah, it just became what I thought was going to be a stepping stone ended up being a career path that I never really considered, but it really kind of gravitated towards, but yeah, it’s that’s how I got started. Met my wife in 2011 she worked for the local university here, and it’s funny, I she tells me all the time she was she should be credited for my degree, and I really do. Think that she should be credited with the start of it anyways, she looked at me, and, you know, at that point, at that point, I was guilty of telling people I was going to go back to school and not head and I didn’t have any plans to I was just trying to get the get rid of the conversation. And she looked at me, and she was like, Look, I love you either way, but either stop telling people you’re going back to school, or do it either way, like I’m with you, no matter what called your

Damon Pistulka  10:24

bluff. Man, yeah, drop the hand. You

Daniel Ott  10:26

can either stop telling people you’re going back to school and stick it what you’re doing, I love you, or you can actually put your feet to the fire. You could jump in and let’s do this together. And you know, I was able to get my degree in 2017 thankfully, at no cost to myself, through tuition waivers, because my wife works there nice and then it ended up with through job fairs and career fairs. And honestly, I had put in a good word. I went to my VP of Marketing at SGS and said to him, you know, look, you know, I’d love to be considered if you ever create any more marketing positions. I would love to be on the top of your list if this ever became something that you were looking to to fill. And he said to me, he was like, we don’t have anything right now, but I’ll keep you at the top of the list, and I appreciate you coming to me. And it wasn’t six months before that family member shout out to my aunt Terry ended up calling me and saying that the the person who was in that marketing coordinator role had left, and if you’re if you’re interested, you need to get your application in. Now I think I waited all of 13 seconds before I had logged on and put my resume in and send an email, did everything I needed to do and and that was in October of 2017, and then by Thanksgiving, it was literally Thanksgiving day that I got the email from my from my VP, saying that I’d got the job. And then just, you know, I’ve, I’ve been fortunate that my career that started as a delivery driver in the manufacturing sector, has parlayed into, I got my degree, was able to seamlessly flow into the the manufacturing area again, and then, you know, led me to NTMA. So

Damon Pistulka  12:12

that’s awesome, absolutely

Curt Anderson  12:13

phenomenal. And kudos to your wife for calling for for a I mean, what. What a great relationship. Tough love being your accountability partner. And just, you know, rising tides, lifts off ships, you know, just, like, just kind of called your bluff. I just, I couldn’t love that more. That was phenomenal. Yeah,

Daniel Ott  12:30

you know, she knew I’d do the work, but it was just that I needed to have that foot in the butt to get out the door. Yeah,

Damon Pistulka  12:38

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, good stuff. Well, we’ve got, we’ve got Elaine stopped by and said, Hey, Dan, I resonate with the dad part, as my hero. You know, dad is hero even today. My hero even today. And then Whitney, Houston’s here today. Whitney, hey from Houston. Happy

Curt Anderson  12:54

Friday, guys. Alright, this is awesome. So you just joined us, please, you know, drop a note in the chat box, let us know that you’re out there. Do yourself a favor. Connect with Dan, Daniel from NTMA on LinkedIn, as you can tell, just a man of integrity, great dad, wonderful husband, and just all sorts of wonderful things. And again, he might have a little wedding going on tonight. Well, yeah, gotta

13:17

stick with us. We’ll

Curt Anderson  13:18

talk about that a little bit later. So alright, Dan, let’s bring this up to the point. So I believe 2023 you found your talents, your skills, your passion at the National tooling and machining Association, talk, walk us through that, that transition, and then we’re going to take a deep dive into the NTMA,

Daniel Ott  13:34

yeah. So you know, I had been with what is now Kyocera SGS, or Kyocera SGS companies since I was 22 years old. So I was 2006 and had had done just about everything that I needed to do. And I was where I was very happy. I love the people there. It was just sometimes you just look for growth. And I honestly, I don’t remember what led me to the search, but I just thought, you know, there was, there was something that I didn’t feel was connecting or come. I didn’t feel like I was completing my journey at SGS. So I began the search. And very oddly, you know, I’m just like a lot of people, I ended up looking at a lot of different job application sites like indeed and LinkedIn and Career Builder. And I saw a and, you know, an article or an ad for the creative content manager position with the National tooling and machining Association. And I thought, this is, this is odd. This shouldn’t be this like seamless. So, of course, I read into it, and, you know, I put in my application and send in my resume, and I don’t think it was more than two days before someone had reached out. And, you know, I have, I had a very. Positive phone interview. I had a great interview. And I don’t know, and they’ll probably tell you, I don’t think either of us planned on, I didn’t plan on, you know, finding an additional marketing job within that same precision manufacturing field, yeah, and I don’t think they planned on finding a marketing individual or marketing professional like myself who had experience in that specific field. Yeah, you know, we represent some tool builders, some tool manufacturers. We absolutely we have as members, and I can absolutely hold my own in a manufacturing conversation with them, as well as in a marketing conversation with with it’s been an absolute seamless and wonderful transition to to a great team at NTMA.

Curt Anderson  15:46

Well, that’s phenomenal. Damon, what do you got?

Damon Pistulka  15:49

I just think, I think that it’s, it’s cool that you were able to do that. You have, I mean, the tooling side of it, and then move into the into the marketing for the people that are using the tooling, and how they’re doing that. It’s it’s that experience. You probably saw some of the what the soulmate customer to the NTMA, some of the challenges they were seeing in the field firsthand, delivering tooling, talking to them, doing the marketing for that the tools themselves, so that it’s a powerful combination. Moving forward,

Daniel Ott  16:26

it is, and I honestly, I keep hitting that I never thought that my, my decision to become a delivery driver in the precision tool manufacturing field would transition to a going on 18 year career, yeah, inside this, this the sector, but I’m absolutely so thankful and so blessed to be, to be still working with this amazing people. And that’s, that’s

Damon Pistulka  16:53

the thing that I love about manufacturing, right? Because, I mean, I did most of my graduate work was paid for by my my employer at the time when I did it, and you there’s, there’s so many programs manufacturers. I mean, you can literally, like you said, you can start it as a delivery driver, and it gives you the opportunity. Sometimes the companies pay some other things, but gives you these opportunities for growth within the companies. And you hear stories like yours where, you know, I was doing this. I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. I knew that I was able to, you know, work a good job and do that. But then I decided it was time you had a little help from your wife, yeah, but, you know, but then it, things just worked out in manufacturing is so cool.

Daniel Ott  17:35

So are you hit on it? Damon, it’s, it’s, it’s a it. Growing up, I was given the path by my parents, and this was the path that they that they knew at the time. You know, there were two paths. There was one path to success. You went through high school, you wouldn’t got your four year degree in college, you got a job, and that was how you became successful. That isn’t necessarily the case anymore, one because tuition is just skyrocketed, and it’s really a big financial decision as to what to do with your future and whether you want to mortgage that with with how much student debt you’ll take on. But you know, I look at kids now who probably aren’t meant to be in the that traditional college experience, they’re not, they’re that’s not the path that you need to move forward. And I think they look at manufacturing, and a lot of them have that same perception that I had, that’s dirty, it’s grimy. I’m gonna, you know, we see into all the time in, like, old movies where you have that steel mill, the guy’s wearing the hard hat, the old coke bottle glasses, yeah, he come home. He comes home filthy. And I think that’s the perception that that manufacturing is this dirty, grimy, dirt, micro, Dirty Jobs type of profession. And it’s no longer that, that way anymore, but a kid and I, and I tell this, you know, so we have a, we have a an education and portion of what we do at NCMA, I tell kids all the time, you know, in my coaching and in my past and you know, I tell them, if the college experience, if you look at college and you don’t think that this is the right path moving forward, take a look at manufacturing. Take a look at some of the companies that are, that are in that sector. One, you get it, you get a job right out of high school, and you’re earning a living wage, yeah, right now. You’re earning a living wage right now. And a lot of these companies will offer tuition reimbursement or tuition waivers, or they’ll give you some sort of a journeyman program. They’ll give you some sort of a way to become proficient at what you do, or like, like at my old company, we give as long as you would, I think it was like as long as you would sign a certain sign on, to be a certain amount of years to be with them, they would pay for your undergraduate work, right? Yeah. So not only are you earning a living wage, but. But I’m getting my college paid for, yes, and when I get my degree. One, I’ve earned all this money to date. And two, I don’t have a single cent of student debt. Yes, not. I’m not. It’s it’s a path forward that I really do think needs to be not forced on them. But it needs to be introduced to a lot of these kids who don’t think that there are other ways to become successful other than that four year

Damon Pistulka  20:28

path. 100% 100% because it is and it, you know, you talk about the four year degree. And I see this in other other areas too, like for machining, lot of places. Now, if you want to come in as a as an entry level just starting sweeping the floor, kind of person, they will send you to the trade school. If you, after you’ve proven yourself that go be get the training as a machinist, and then you come back and you can get even better at at doing it. And I’ve seen it in welding. I’ve seen it a lot of other these trade positions where we’re talking these people can make $100,000 a year, absolutely, and not too long, with this kind of this progress. And these are kids, as you said, my son’s 25 he’s got friends right now, still searching what they’re going to do. And it’s because they thought that the path was, you go to college, you do this. And they they got down to the college role, and it just wasn’t right for him. And you’re there are so many, so many places in manufacturing, you can win over the long haul and have a great time doing it. And

Daniel Ott  21:31

you know, like, I am extremely thankful one for the path that I got to move forward. But you know, one of the things that I look for inspiration. So I don’t know that any one person or people inspired me to get into manufacturing, but I can tell you unequivocally that over the course of my 18 year career, I have met countless amounts of people that have kept me in this profession and have made me the passionate guy that you see before you. Because honestly, manufacturing the one thing that I think is universal in every manufacturer, what they produce, they produce great people. That is the biggest thing that they produce, is the people that they have there.

Damon Pistulka  22:12

Yeah, drop

Curt Anderson  22:13

the mic right there. Man. Manufacturers create. They produce great people, they do. That might be one of the best lines on on our show, yeah, yeah. Might be one of the best shows, of best comments of all time. That was Dan. That was, that was fantastic. And just, you know, in man, you talk about inspiration. So, you know what? So my, I have a dear, dear friend. She lives, you know, like two doors down. She was the, she’s my age, ish, you know, she looks 20 years younger. She was the first plant manager of Cummins engine. So think Cummins, you know, huge plants. Was a huge plant near where I live, and she was the first female plant manager in the Cummins history. So few weekends ago they had a 50th anniversary. And so, you know, my wife ran into our neighbor. She’s like, Hey, you should, you know, we’re doing this big so my wife and I go up, and they’re giving tours of Cummins engine. Wow, here. So my wife and I go in, we took a they had golf course cart. So you’re taking a golf cart tour around the plant, and I’m chit chatting with the two guys driving the golf cart, exactly what you’re describing. Dan, they came in and they were just gushing. They came in on the, you know, on the floor is where they started, and Cummins rose. Them were now they this guy had this position. This guy had this position. It was one guy was an IT guy. The other guy was in another tech field. And he was like, we could have never done this without and without manufacturing and without Cummins. They have lifted us to hold their levels. And it was just, what you’re saying is just so spot on, man,

Daniel Ott  23:44

it is. So I’m going to give another shout out to the guys at major tool in Indianapolis. So every year we have an engaged conference that we go to, and it’s different city each year, and we take a shop tour in whatever city we happened to be in, and we got to tour this amazing, amazing facility, this amazing, amazing company called major tool. The one reason I mentioned this, and I’ve mentioned this to the guys that work there that ended up being at our conference, the one thing that I took away, other than the fact that it was absolutely massive, that the second you walk in the door, I understood exactly who they were as a company, because the second you walk in the door, literally, on the wall there is a picture of every single person that works there, and the years that they’ve had there, and they’ve had guys that are there, like, within their first year, all the way to 50 years. Yeah. So I told them, I’m like, the one thing, like, you guys can produce anything you want to produce and still be successful. But what makes you successful, in my eyes, is that the one thing you produce is right there on the wall, is, is those great people that are on the wall that are willing to, not only they they’ve dedicated majority of their lives, yeah, to what you guys are selling right there. So I know exactly who you are the second I walk in the door. And that’s what’s awesome about manufacturing and some great people. Oh, my

Curt Anderson  25:03

God, alright. So, so good. So, alright, let’s keep the party rolling. You mentioned engage. We’re talking about NTMA, if you’re just joining us here, David, I’ve lost track of time, like we’ve

Damon Pistulka  25:12

got some comments here. I’m going to run through but we have Sunil saying, hey, good evening, sir. Is that a good and Elaine said, starting small and through love, there you go. Tarun said, hello and to HO rule, sorry, I’m probably butchering that, but he said, great event. Thank you so much for the comments. Alright, let’s keep it rolling. Curt,

Curt Anderson  25:34

keep it rolling. Drop us a note. Let us know where you’re coming from again. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. Go to NTMA. So now, Dan, let’s go here. Who is NTMA? How do you guys make the world a better place? We’ve had your dear your fearless leader, has been on the show, our friend, our comrade. You know, Roger Atkins has been here. Big shout out to Roger. Your entire team. Just share a little bit about who and what is you’re talking about, people? What is going on at NT and yeah, so

Daniel Ott  26:03

we are a manufacturing trade association. Our national office is based right here in Cleveland, Ohio. We represent, I think it’s over 1000 small to medium sized manufacturers nationwide, and try to provide them with networking opportunities, different programs to how to help one, you know, help them stay afloat. Help them, you know, with any sort of processes that they might be struggling with, any sort of connections that they need to have made within the manufacturing space, you know, and really, we’re just, we’re, we’re out there representing the people that I’m talking about just now is these amazing people nationwide who, without knowing it, kind of make your life either easier or make your life go quite honestly. Mm, hmm,

Curt Anderson  26:50

yeah. And you guys have been around since 1943 and so just, you know, just give a little bit, you know, how you guys are making the world a better place. And on top of that, the longevity, the success. Why is your trade association just been so phenomenal for your members? Well, we’ve

Daniel Ott  27:07

been around for 81 years. We have the ability to go and really appeal to these small to medium sized manufacturers and kind of give them connections, you know, make sure that they feel like they’re a part of a community. You know, we have events that we have, and you have networking opportunities. We have different we have an NCMA, you which is a university that kind of helps further the education of a lot of these manufacturing students. We have advocacy programs. We have an arm that kind of, you know, puts at, puts manufacturing at the forefront of political discussions and trying to see what, you know, where the where the pulse is, and where the things are going, like last week’s, you know, R and D tax credit vote. You know, that was something that we were really pushing our members to get a hold of their senators, and, you know, put forth, you know, the effort to try to see that manufacturing is successful going into the future. We’re, you know, we’re one of many trade associations, but we’re, we’re one that really has the manufacturing, the heart of manufacturers, and, you know, in mind, and we try to do our best to make sure that we’re not only successful, but that the industry stays strong and stays afloat, and, you know, moving forward, you know, we’re, we’re still as as big and as prominent as we were back in the 20s.

Curt Anderson  28:30

Yeah, I love, if you don’t mind, Daniel, I’m going to grab, I’m going to grab your website real quick, and just, let’s throw that up on on stage here, just so people can take a peek. So hey, I recognize that guy. How about this guy right here? You know you guys are working and again, you’re talking about the university, talking about workforce advocacy, all sorts of wonderful things. So again, here’s the NTMA website, national tooling and machine Association, been around since 1943 you can go to their website. Check out all their things going on. Let’s go here. If you don’t mind, I want to pull up and let’s see, where was it, right here. How about NTMA? you’d mention this real quickly. Talk about how, how you guys are helping folks to fill that gap. So

Daniel Ott  29:11

we view, you know, like efficiency is a big deal, so I’m a big proponent in hiring the right people, not just hiring a body NTMA is the arm that we use to further the education and further that right person. So that, when I manufacture, hire someone that comes in and say, is a tool manufacturer for sake, and is running a Walters machine. Instead of running one machine, he can run five machines. Or instead of, you know, being, you know, he can run, you know, CNC on a haz machine, he can run, there’s a lot of different things that that NCMA, you offers to further the education of a manufacturing and to see it, specifically a CNC manufacturing professional. So they come in and they’re able to take advantage. Have some, some courses, some tuition, not tuition, but some textbooks, and really just kind of educate them and convert, you know, help further their career in manufacturing.

Curt Anderson  30:11

Yeah, I love it. And so, Dan, let’s go here. So let’s, let’s dive into, like, your role, specifically, you’re just a brand advocate, kind of the being the big football guy that you are, you’re a bit of the cheerleader, not only for the NTMA, but also for manufacturing as a whole, the tooling and machining industry as a whole. Just share a little bit on like your role and like why you just, you’re just, you love what you do on a daily basis, how you’re helping getting the word out.

Daniel Ott  30:34

Well, you know, so a big kind of theme that we have during this year, we it’s called telling your story. So my job as a marketer, when it comes to the NTMA, because we have 1000 small to medium sized manufacturers nationwide, a lot of them don’t have a marketing arm. A lot of them don’t have the or they don’t put a whole lot of focus on marketing. And one of the my goals is to help these small to medium sized manufacturers tell their story. You know, you give me a mic, I’ll talk your ear off. You ask me where I come from, and everything like that. I’m going to give you the I’m going to I won’t even go Cliff Notes. I’ll go full Deep Dive. Yeah, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that that’s universal amongst a lot of people, and they’re just waiting for the the time and the vehicle to tell their story. So as a marketer, when it comes to these people, is just allowing them to tell you who they are, and being able to kind of give them the best path, the best path forward. You know, we we talk all the time about just being able to get their voice heard and get, you know, their their message out in front of the right people, you know. And that’s, and that’s my job as a marketer, is to, you know, like when, when I talked about selling people, when I talk about the people that are the products of these manufacturing companies. So that’s what I’m trying to to push nationwide is that these people are what drive everything that you see in life, everything that from your cars to, you know, your this, the food that we eat every morning all the way to you know, the the roller coasters that you ride on when we go, you know, to a theme Park. Everything is driven by manufacturing everything is driven and just giving them the time to tell your story is what I try. Is at its at its base, what I try to do every day. Well,

Curt Anderson  32:31

I tell you what an admirable cause right there, just getting everybody’s story out there. Absolutely love it, and I don’t, I don’t mean to put you on the spot. Dan, does any particular stories jump out to you that you’ve that have folks that have shared with you just, you know, super inspiring that you would love to re retell here with everybody? So

Daniel Ott  32:50

not anyone particular like I mentioned there. You know, there was a story like I told you about major tool and them putting their, their their people on a pedestal. But so now I’m not trying to plug the event that we have going on in in October, but we have coming with us to the event is a Hall of Fame singer songwriter who wrote the dance for Garth Brooks. His name is Tony Arata um. We’ve had him touring some chapters of NTMA throughout the year, kind of instilling this, this storytelling ability to all of these chapters, and all the members of these chapters to you know, they have a they all have an amazing, amazing story to tell, and we all want to hear them. It’s just that they need the voice to tell them. They need the vehicle to go out there and tell it. Um, so I don’t know if there’s any one particular manufacturer that I’ve seen or heard that that has a great story. They all have great stories to tell. Yeah, they really do. So like, last year was my first time at engage, our fall conference, and I got to speak with some amazing people like Jeff Anderson the acute precision aerospace and you know, Ashley Hunsicker at HTC coding wrote a couple down Dan Engel Meyer, you know, hipster Christina covid, Riata engineering. So there’s these amazing, amazing people that you didn’t know existed and that you’ve got to pick their brains and just kind of learn who they are as people and as business owners. And it’s just, it’s really amazing to take all that in.

Curt Anderson  34:22

Yeah, and you guys do a great job promoting your events, because I see, you know, my buddy at Ripley machine, Andrew, you know, I like, he’s constantly posting, you know, chapter events. And, you know, so around the country, as you mentioned, you guys have different, you know, regional chapters that, for that small manufacturer, that 510, person, you know, they feel alone. They’re like fighting relentlessly, trying to get their business off the ground, keep staying viable. And it’s just great how you guys bring that community together. You can bring that the brand advocate, tell their story, get their message to Congress. You know, like all these roles that you guys play, that just, you know, as a, as a, on our own, you. Can’t do it. Damon, you always use that line, that one kind of, you know, one to many. Well, when you join a trade association, now you’ve got some muscle behind you, you

Damon Pistulka  35:07

know, yes, yes. And you get the resources, like you said, connecting people to resources, because we work in our businesses all day long. And if I’m sitting there in a machining company, running my machining company, and I need help with something that’s outside of machining. Could be business related, could be legal related, could be HR related, something like that. Having the association behind you, they go, oh yeah, these are the people that we’ve seen help our other members, and they’ve become highly recommended kind of thing. Or, you know, this, just so there’s so much value in that when you can put that together and help your members like that, and it’s,

Daniel Ott  35:43

you know, I’ll take it one step further. You know, when you become a member of NTMA, you got muscle. You really do, like you said, but a step that needs to be taken by more members of ours. It’s Get involved. Get engaged. There. Our most successful members are the ones that we see all the time that really do put their best foot forward. And really, do you know it’s very easy in manufacturing, especially to kind of look at things as time spent off the floor, as time lost, yeah, um, and that, you know that may be true in certain in certain instances, but you the more that you become invested in the opportunities and the programs that we can provide, the more successful you’re going to be, I promise you. And some of the people that I’ve mentioned just in the last couple of seconds are the ones that take advantage of it. Are the runs that I don’t have to worry about seeing at conferences, the ones that I don’t have to worry about not seeing on cohorts that we have, or not wanting to, you know, get involved with some of the affinity programs that we have to offer. Let’s say it’s like going to college, like when I went back to college, I was successful because I got involved. You know, I wasn’t successful the first time because I didn’t get involved. I didn’t manage my time Well, I didn’t put my effort into, you know, getting involved with this or getting involved with that. I was the, you know, when I went back to school my second time, I’m sure I was the annoying guy that was ruining the curve. I’m sorry, I was the annoying older guy who was like, the you better sit down in class. I’m like, to the professor. But I was successful because I got involved. I got engaged. Yeah, yeah. And the more you become, not only just a member of NCMA, the more you become an engaged member of NTMA, the more successful you’re going

Curt Anderson  37:30

to be, you know, I couldn’t agree with you more, Dan. And the thing is, you know, so Damon, we talk so often about how important is to work on your business, not just in your business. And that can be anything, you know. It doesn’t make manufacturing exception, you know. Is not the exception, you know. But when you have a machine shop, if somebody calls in sick, you know, owner might be out on the floor, maybe they’re shipping, or maybe, you know, they’re running around doing HR, you know, if you have a small shop, man, you’re doing a little bit of everything. And I think what NTMA does for these small manufacturers, they can take a minute and step back and, like, be in a room, whether a virtual room, an email room, a physical room, and just collaborate and just like, oh, yeah, I have that problem. Or, how about this? What if you had, what if you had that problem five years ago, solved it, and now you could share it with somebody else? What if you could be not just the receiver, but the giver, like you’re saying, Dan, like, be the person that just you know, because it works both ways, right? And lots of opportunities to take advantage of with your with your there really

Daniel Ott  38:27

are, and not to cut you off. Curt, but like, so that was one thing that was, this was probably the most beneficial hour that I’ve had in my entire year and a half of being with NTMA last year, when I was at my first engaged conference, one of the things that we offer our members is member led roundtables. So we, you know, this could be from any topic, you know, from workforce to leadership to advocacy. So I sat in with the sales and marketing roundtable. And this was a group comprised of maybe 20 to 25 people, and you had the room cut in half. You had, and I’m not trying to call anybody old, but you had the room split down the middle. You had the one. You had the young section over here, and you had the old section over here. And I say that because there are two ways it was very much split down the middle. You had one side of the room that does things very old school, you know, the prospecting, the cold calling. They want to go door to door. They want to be in your face. They want to have, they have the Rolodex full of contacts. It was like, very old school way of doing things. Then you have the new school way of doing things that wants to employ technology, you know, because my generation, I like to make it, you know, like I’m at the early end of the millennial generation. So I was the first generation raised with technology, right? Not crazy intimidating to me to look at chat, GPT or zoom or teams, or any one of these, you know, different technology, things that I can utilize as a sales tool, but can be intimidating to the older generation who wasn’t, wasn’t raised with. This. You know, they became successful relationship builders, with a lot of with different vehicles than I did, um, but like I said, was getting back to this, the room was split down the middle, and I it was very much like cantankerous at first, because, you know, you have both sides of the room that thought, they’re right, you know, this is the way it’s done. No, this is the way it’s done. Everybody in the room was able to stop and we were able to go around the room. One of the things that we took away from it is, if you can be humble and listen for two seconds to the wisdom that this generation has to pass down to you, because they’ve been in it for a long time, and the goal is is still the same. It’s to build relationships, build trust, to build a customer base, if you can sit, if you can slow down and listen to how they did that and put those and that message into the tools that we have at our disposal. You know us young generation, we can become as successful as you guys were, and for this older generation, if you can sit down and listen for two seconds, let me teach you how to use this, or even help you use this, right? I’ve been down that road. You know, when I was with SGS one we had a sales force that I often had to help quite a bit. But guys like, I’m gonna, I’m giving a shout out here to Cliff Carrigan and Joe Sarkis, who are the master relationship builders. They are, if there is a pair of photos in the dictionary amongst like relationship guys. Those guys are there. If I can teach those guys how to use some of the technology that I have at my disposal, they’re bringing an entire

Damon Pistulka  41:34

Yeah. Oh. Froze for a second, but yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. This way, he’ll come back, yeah. But you know, it is really, this is interesting, because it is the the older generation and the younger generation and but what he’s saying is true, because there’s good, the good that the that both can learn from each other, and as they move forward, they can be better, better together.

Curt Anderson  42:02

Yeah, you know, I had the privilege of, I’ll just share this real quick, and hopefully Dan will pop right back. Yeah, Ida. I was part of a, I started a social media intern program years ago at a community college specifically for manufacturers. And I teed up with a young woman. She was a professor, you know, like 20 something. And, you know, here’s the older guy. And so in, hey, since we’re I’ll share, I got a funny story demon. So she, she was, what was she? She was like, suck it and run her up for, you know, like, for, for here, here he

Daniel Ott  42:38

1. I don’t know what happened. Yeah, it just,

Damon Pistulka  42:41

it does that once in a while. So, Curt, sorry,

Curt Anderson  42:44

yeah. So, alright. So anyway, so Dan, what I love, what you’re sharing is, we were just trying to fill in a little bit while

Damon Pistulka  42:50

you’re gone, and you’re just talking about the value, though, that that kind of conversation brings between the the older and the younger people. Because as an older person you don’t know, don’t know the technology. And the other thing that Curt, and I talk about a lot, is, as an older person in generation, you’re removed from today’s buyer. I mean, let’s, let’s face it, not many people like that that occur to my age are still buying the kind of things that that machining companies make. I mean, it’s buyers at organizations that are doing that those people are more your age. And if we, if we listen to both sides and use the tools to build those relationships and and learn those tools, everybody’s better in the end,

Curt Anderson  43:32

absolutely, yeah. So, you know, because Damon, it gets a little tough when you and I walk around with our phone books, you know, we’re Yeah, yeah. I

Damon Pistulka  43:39

got the old, I’ll bring him up here. I’ve got the old Thomas guide. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  43:45

the Dan, the Dan. So Dan, did you freeze again? Yes,

Damon Pistulka  43:48

he did. Oh, there. He coming back. He’s coming back.

43:51

Alright.

Damon Pistulka  43:52

There he is. Dan, here, I

Daniel Ott  43:54

swear I’m not doing anything,

Curt Anderson  43:55

yeah. So no good stuff. We’ll start winding down. So I’m just and I’ll just finish it real quick. So Damon, I had a I was running, I was running a social media intern program for manufacturers. And what was the beauty of it was so amazing. You had Baby Boomers and Gen X business owners working with these freshmen and sophomore we’re in the in at the end, we at the end of semester, we do this big celebration, and we’d bring in the manufacturers in the room, the president of the college was there. It was just this wonderful celebration. And I can’t tell you how many owners would stand up to your point, Dan, in humility, and say, I can’t believe how much I’m learning from this 18 year old, yeah, on how to do these things. But the 18 year old had the the opportunity of just, you know, being mentored in, you know, this wisdom from you know, the owner. So I just, I love what you’re saying on that room, what you’re describing that just is so spot on. Dan, what else you got?

Daniel Ott  44:47

It is invaluable that we take a step back sometimes and we just listen. Just, I think so often we’re, we’re so programmed to be opinionated and just throw out, yeah, you know, oh, I learned how to do this, and I learned. To do. You know, it’s going to be easier. Let me show you how to do it. Take a step back, stop what you’re doing, and just listen for a second and just admit that you don’t have all the answers. That’s all, I swear to you. That’s how I’m where I am my career. It’s just that I’m, you know, I was able to pick the brains of the people that knew more than I did,

Curt Anderson  45:20

right? Yeah, it’s amazing how smart we were in our 20s. But then as you get older, all of a sudden you’re like, you know, you just, you know, you just, when you’re on a quest for curiosity and to learn, it just, man, it just, it’s so Dan, let’s start winding down. I know you gotta you’ve got big plans tonight, so a couple, couple last things I want to ask. So let’s go here. Dan, super excited for the future. You’ve got a big engage program coming up. Do you want to just share a little bit on when, where, what’s happening with engage? What’s going on there?

Daniel Ott  45:49

Yeah. So engage is happening in Nashville, Tennessee, October 16 through the 19th. Nice, we are going to be hosting what we hope is a good amount of manufacturing professionals nationwide. And we’re hosting, we have, I think, six speakers coming in to do a bevy of different General Sessions. That’s, you know, from everything from workforce development all the way to we are actually recording a live podcast the last day we’re there. So we have four big manufacturing influencers, Tony Gunn, Andrew Crow, Megan Zimba and Paul Van Meter, who are all giants in the manufacturing space and are giant advocates for the manufacturing space. So the gun show podcast specifically will be recording live the last day we’re at engage. So that’s going to be something that’s going to be amazing. Another thing that we’re going to have and going to have, and this is very topical right now, is that we’re going to have two political lobbyists. They’re going to be there to kind of give our members and whoever to suit decides to attend, a bit of a snapshot of where the pulse is a month away from the election. Kind of give you what they think is going to be happening, kind of the repercussions of whatever that whatever comes down the pipe. So these are just things that I think, that are things that you can’t you’re not going to want to miss. I don’t know if we’re going to have these guys back next year. We’re not. I don’t know where I’m going to be next year. Nobody does. So take advantage of this. Now I know I’m plugging this, this, this event, it really is invaluable. I really do think that the networking opportunities and some of the things that we can offer our members, conversation, a lot, conversation wise, are things that you’re not going to want to miss. Yeah. So it is a great event. Like I said, October 16 through the 19th. If you go to the our events page, we have a registration link if you want to take a look at some information for those of for those people listening in, who are on the fence about joining NTMA, do us a favor. Put a toe in the water. Yeah. So if you go to Curt, if you were to go to manufacturing, engage.org because the actual site address, yeah, gays. 2024. Is in Nashville. If you’re on the fence about joining NTMA, come to the event. See what we’re about. Talk to some people from from from myself, all the way up to the top, Roger Atkins, we’re all happy to talk to anybody who comes and just listen to what we got to say. If you feel it’s for you, we can help. We can put that muscle behind your company there.

Curt Anderson  48:29

Oh, I love it. And Dane, I’m sorry, did you want me to click anything else? Did you want me to show no,

Daniel Ott  48:33

I mean, so like, you’ve let it right there. Curt, like, So

Curt Anderson  48:36

engage 2024 I and just so much meat on the bone, you know, the the you know. And again, we have no skin in the game. Just, you know, we’re just huge advocates of what you guys do. Just love the passion. Love what you and Roger are doing. You know your entire team, you know. We know your members. We are dear friends with Megan and Paul and Tony, you know. So that is just wonderful that you’re having these great speakers, or doing a podcast, great speakers. You’re having lobbyists, literally, you know what, three weeks, I hardly right, three weeks before this huge election. So just, I mean, there’s just so much value that it’s just impossible for a small entrepreneurs, I don’t

Daniel Ott  49:15

know when of that opportunity. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  49:22

there we go. Okay, all right, Dan, let’s wind down. So I know you’ve got a big, big event tonight before I let you go. I’d love one last question for you, best business advice that you have ever received or that you would love to pass along to our listeners today. What is the best business advice Do we lose them? Man, that was Damon. But Damon, what’s the best man we’re like, on the edge of like he was about to drop it, and then we we lost him. I should, you know, I should have wrapped up. Yep. What’s the best business advice, Damon pistilco, that you’ve ever received? Oh, think

Damon Pistulka  49:56

twice before you invest in capital equipment. Yeah. In business. I mean that in manufacturing, that’s the big one, because everybody loves new equipment, right, right? And, and, and to the bane of every manufacturing company, if you’re an equipment junkie, you can get it funded. They’ll drop it on your floor. You get this big, million dollar piece of equipment, and then you go, Oh, I guess we’re going to have to run a lot of product through this to make money. And I still remember my first mentor, Don Bender, because I was fresh out of college, and I was like, oh, we should get this machine. We should get that machine. He said, We really need to think about that, because you got to think about how much we have to produce to pay for that equipment. Yeah, that would, that was just the, the best advice I ever had.

Curt Anderson  50:44

Kind of the the measure twice cut once, is that the, you know, along those lines go. So, alright, so I don’t know if Dan’s going to be able to join us back here. So this lined up wonderful session today. So we’ll wind down. So Damon, thank you for joining us today again. Guys, check out the national tooling and machining Association. Wonderful friends there. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. And man, I was hoping, if I stole for a minute, maybe he’d come back to us. Damon, any parting thoughts for the weekend? What do you

Damon Pistulka  51:14

got? No, I’m just telling you that. You know, the the NTMA, actually, some of the companies I ran in the past were members. I mean, they’re not kidding. They’ve got good resources. They can really help you as a small to medium sized machine shop. He was talking about all those people. I mean, Paul lives only, like, 60 miles away from me, up here in the in the Northwest, and you know, those other people they have at the the seminar, it’s going to be just great speakers. They got a wonderful show going to go on and and a lot of things happening, but the NTMA really does help their members.

Curt Anderson  51:44

I, I totally agree. So great, wonderful. Inspire, inspiring conversation today. So we will close things out. We appreciate everybody joining us today in the chat box. We appreciate everybody here today. Go back and rewind. Listen to Dan just he is just so passionate for manufacturing, yeah, why don’t you close us out, take us away. Man. All

Damon Pistulka  52:04

right, that was great. Today. We were talking with Dan OTT at the National tooling and machining Association and learning how the NTMA is crushing it for their manufacturers. Wow. I want to thank all the people that dropped the comments in there. Tarun, Sunil Whitney, for being Elaine, for being here today to horrible. It’s just so many people. Thank you so much. And those people that didn’t drop the comments, we love it that you’re out there listening too. If you know somebody that would benefit from watching our show, listening to our show, follow our podcast, put them in touch with us. Show them where this show is at. We would appreciate it. Have a great weekend, everybody. And we all, all, all, Dan came back.

Daniel Ott  52:47

I swear I man, that was a panic inducing.

Damon Pistulka  52:53

Hey, we’re just wrapping up. Dan, perfect

Curt Anderson  52:55

timing, Dan, we’re just, we’re closing things out. I had asked you best business advice that you’ve ever received, anything that you’d like to share.

Daniel Ott  53:05

Best piece of business advice. So going along with the telling your story, I have a dear, dear friend who was my former sales manager at SGS named Cliff Carrigan. He always his best pearl of wisdom that he ever left me with was ask the question, tell me more about that. Anybody business or, you know, doesn’t matter what the conversation is about. Tell me more about that, and it leads to a greater conversation. It leads to a bigger conversation. And the other pearl of wisdom that I’ve, I’ve, yeah, I’ve instilled in myself, is be patient. Don’t jump to if you get a new task somebody gives it to you, it’s okay to freak out. Don’t act reactionary. You don’t be a reactionary person, and be patient. And you know, go, just do what you do. Yes, you

Curt Anderson  54:02

Alright. Great words of wisdom, my friend. So Alright, hey, we wish you amazing, wonderful luck tonight. You have a little you you want to just share what you’re doing this evening?

Daniel Ott  54:11

Yeah, so my little brother, Joe is getting married, and I have a very important best man speech to give later on tonight, so it should be a great time. A shout out to my brother, Joe and his new wife, Julie. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you guys. Well,

Curt Anderson  54:30

God, God. Hey, we wish you, your brother, your sister in law, just tons of just wild success and Dan, good success to you with your speech. We can’t wait to see the recording of it. So thank you for joining us today. We appreciate you. We thank you for your support. Everything that you guys are doing for manufacturers at NTMA, incredibly inspiring. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us today, to share your word and Damon, why don’t you want you to close us out, my friend,

Damon Pistulka  54:58

I’m gonna close out for good this time. Thank. Everyone for being here. I mentioned the people that dropped the comments. Thank you. If you got into this late, get back to the beginning and listen to Dan from the beginning and the awesome stuff that the NTMA is doing for their manufacturers. We will be back again next week. Have a great weekend, everyone. Thanks for having me. Guys.